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Tuesday, February 10, 2015

The Blue; the Gray; and the Runaway – a History and Etymology of “Skedaddle”

Another “Skedaddle.” – “Skedaddle” is a handy word.We think it was invented purposely to
describe the military movements of the Missouri traitors; for it is the only
word that can do justice to the subject.Run, scamper, fly, and all such terms, are too tame for the occasion;
but “skedaddle” fills the bill precisely.Our readers, therefore, may know why we make such frequent use of the
word.

The word, “skedaddle,” became well-known during the first
year of the Civil War.It first gained
widespread notoriety in October 1861, in the aftermath of the Union Army’s
recapture of Munson’s Hill, in the Seven Corners region of Virginia.Union soldiers rechristened the hill, “Fort
Skedaddle,” to mock the Rebels’ retreat.The word was not new at the time, however; it was already well-known
throughout the Army of the Potomac.Although
the word may have come from a Scottish word, meaning to spill milk from a
bucket; the immediate source of the word may have been Kansas.

Pre-Civil War – Skedaddle in Kansas

All of the examples of “skedaddle” in print that I could
find, dated earlier than October 1861, are from Kansas, or stories written in Kansas.Two examples pre-date the bombardment of Fort
Sumter, on April 12, 1861, the onset of the Civil War.[(Update: I have found one earlier example (1859) from Missouri - see Update below, before the end notes.)]

The word appears to have already been well-known in the
region, or at least to the readers of that one paper, as it seems to be tossed
out freely, without explanation:

Thurlow Weed, who had
been at Washington endeavoring to sell out the Republican party in order to
spite Greeley, “skedaddled” for home as soon as he read the report of Lincoln’s
speech at Indianapolis.He probably
discovered evidences in that speech that he could not lead Lincoln to water as
he had Seward, and that his “occupation was gone.”

White Cloud Kansas
Chief, February 28, 1861, page 2, column 1.

But veni vidi Gloria mundi – which, being interpreted, means that the
governor came, saw, and skeedaddled with a flea in his ear.

White Cloud Kansas
Chief, March 21, 1861, page 2, column 6.

Shortly after the outbreak of the Civil War, an account of a
skirmish in Missouri reported either, that retreating Confederates repainted
their flag of surrender, or that they soiled their drawers in panic.You be
the judge:

[B]e it known that Harney is a
mortal terror to Indians and Pukes[i]
– but Jeff and his ragamuffin crew “skeedaddled” full tilt for home, hid their
regimentals, and dressed in their ordinary citizens’ clothes; and in a very
short time there was not a sign in the neighborhood to indicated that a
military organization had ever been dreamed of in the “4th Military
District of Missouri.”Yet it is
positively asserted that Jeff and his valiant followers did paint “stripes” on their “white flags.” The discovery was made
by the washerwomen!

The White Cloud Kansas
Chief, May 23, 1861, page 2.

Most of the early uses of “skedaddle” relate to Confederate
soldiers or Confederate sympathizers in Missouri or Kansas (Missouri was a
border state, with divided loyalties; and Missouri and Kansas had been the site
of cross-border skirmishes since 1854), running away from their pursuers:

“Now,
by St. George, the Work Goes Bravely on!” – A report has reached us, just
before going to press, that United States troops to the number of one or two
hundred, entered Oregon [(Oregon, Missouri)], on Wednesday evening, and
commenced arresting such obnoxious secessionists as had not “skedaddled.”

White Cloud Kansas
Chief, July 11, 1861, page 2, column 6.

There was the usual amount of “skedaddling”
for the brush and cornfields, but it was generally regarded as a piece of
sport.The traitors have become used to
the dilly-dallying of the Government authorities, and begin to regard these
affairs as first-rate jokes.

White Cloud Kansas Chief,
August 22, 1861, page 2, column 1.

The word appeared in a Vermont newspaper in late September
1861, in an article filed from Kansas:

Atchison,
Kansas, Sept. 9, 1861.

Last
Friday our city took a puke.No less
than a dozen of the most ultra secessionists in the place, fearing the
jay-hawkers[ii]
were coming into town that night and hang them packed up their traps in a hurry
and at once skedaddled for Mo.

When soldiers of the Army of the Potomac occupied Munson’s
Hill a few days later, the word, “skedaddle,” was believed to be, “used
throughout the whole army of the Potomac.”If skedaddle had been merely a Kansas localism, as suggested by the fact
that it can only be found in Kansas newspaper during the period, it could have
been transplanted to the Army of the Potomac by soldiers from Kansas, or who
had served in Kansas before, or during the early days of, the Civil War.

Soldiers from Kansas in Virginia

The 1st Cavalry
Regiment (later reorganized as the 4th Cavalry Regiment) of the
United States Army was organized in Missouri in 1855, and saw action in “Bloody
Kansas” before the Civil War.Although
most of the regiment was assigned throughout the Western Theater (Tennessee,
Missouri, Arkansas, Indian Territory) during the Civil War, General McClellan,
who had once served in the regiment, requested Company A and Company E serve as
his personal escort.Those units saw
service in Virginia in the battle of Bull Run in July 1861.General McClellan assumed command of the Army
of the Potomac after the Union’s defeat at the Bull Run, and was in command of
the army when they retook Munson’s Hill and renamed it, Fort Skedaddle.There were plenty of soldiers with Kansas
connections and experience who might have introduced the word into the ranks of
the Union Army.

General McClellan’s actions, or, rather, inaction, leading
up to the retaking of Munson’s Hill went a long way toward cementing his
reputation as someone unwilling to take bold, decisive action.Although the name, “Fort Skedaddle,” was
intended to mock the Rebels’ quick flight; the name, in retrospect, may be
ironic.The Rebels withdrew from
Munson’s Hill as part of an organized, strategic withdrawal.It was the Union soldiers, several months
earlier, who had actually “skedaddled” during the first Battle of Bull
Run.

And, when McClellan retook Munson’s Hill, it showed no signs
of having been occupied, and was defended only by fake cannons.

Munson’s Hill

Munson’s Hill was the talk of the town in Washington DC and
environs in August and September, 1861.Its prominent location overlooking the Capitol, and daily skirmishes
nearby, lent it an air of mystery and importance, well beyond its actual
military value:

Most
of your readers are no doubt familiar with the high, bold, open appearance of
the hill, crowned with a few straggling trees.A tall pole has been erected on the highest point, and on that pole a
secession flag is flying at least forty feet above the tops of the highest
trees.The three stripes are plainly
seen.A smaller flag is visible to the
left.No doubt these flags can be seen
from the dome of the Capitol, in Washington, with a good glass, as Munson’s
hill is distinctly visible with the naked eye from that point.

Evening Star
(Washington DC), August 30, 1861, page 2.

Up
to the present moment, Munson’s, (the genuine and substantial Hill itself), has
not been taken, although, for the last three days, reports to the contrary have
been rattling and flying in like swarms of bullets.The truth is, that everybody has a positive,
though not clearly explicable, notion that it ought to be taken, and, while
wondering why it is not, all are ready and eager to spread the idea that it
is.The fact that it is not particularly
worth taking, will not be accepted by the public on any condition.The public hereabout has fixed its mind on
Munson’s, has elevated Munson’s to a dignity far beyond its merits, and will
listen to no depreciation whatever.Nevertheless, at the risk of destroying a popular delusion, it must be
here recorded that the much-talked of position is, by no means, so important as
people suppose.

New York Daily Tribune,
September 13, 1861, page 8.

Early reports put the number of troops on Munson’s Hill as “700
rebel cavalry, 1000 infantry and three rifle cannon.”[iii]But in late September, a Rebel deserter reported
that the numbers, and morale, of the Rebel forces were much lower than believed.Despite Union soldiers’ fears that 100,000 enemy
troops were massed, and ready to invade Washington DC at any moment, he
reported that several Confederate regiments had already withdrawn from the area.[iv]

When McClellan finally advanced on Munson’s Hill, on
September 28, 1861, they found a shell of a fortification defended by two stove
pipes and a log, painted to look like guns:

The
army then passed on to Munson’s Hill, where it was supposed the enemy was in
force, protected by strong works, but, whatever their number, they ingloriously
fled, leaving nothing behind them, but two pieces of stove pipe mounted like
cannon, which they were intended to represent, and a wooden gun painted black,
and mounted on wheels. . . . .

The
only works at Munson’s Hill consisted of a ditch about two feet deep, dug
around the bill, the dirt thus excavated being thrown up to form a
breastwork.No appearance of having had
tents, as the bottom of the ditch was covered with straw.

The National
Republican, September 30, 1861, page 2.

One year later, an anti-McClellan tract ridiculed the
General’s delays and lack of action:

His
debut was made with the announcement that we would carry on the war with as
little loss of life as possible, and we have seen that, though the enemy, in
vastly inferior numbers, kept thrusting the rebel flag under his nose at
Fairfax Court House; nay, at Munson’s Hill for several months, he would not
give our “Southern brethren” battle.

George Wilkes, McClellan:
Who He Is and What He Has Done, New York, page 5 (New York, August 4, 1862,
Office of Wilkes’ Spirit of the Times).

Fort Skedaddle

When the Army of the Potomac finally reoccupied Munson’s
Hill, they rechristened it, “Fort Skedaddle”:

“Skadaddle” – The Washington correspondent
of one of the morning papers informs us that the German soldiers have
christened the rebel earthworks back of Munson’s Hill “Fort Skadaddle.”

The Evening Star,
October 22, 1861, page 2.

The word was apparently new, and interesting, as it was
widely reported.The following item
about the new name was sandwiched between a poignant reminder of the human
suffering that brought on the war, and foreboding of the human suffering yet to
come:

The National
Republican (Washington DC), October 24, 1861, page 2.

The use of the word, “skedaddle,” in relation to Munson’s
Hill, may be the first time that the word was used outside of Kansas and outside
the insular world of the Army of the Potomac.The initial reports about “Fort Skedaddle” are the first published instances
of the word from outside of Kansas that I could find.Although the word was new, its longevity was
already suspected.One of the first
reports of “Fort Skedaddle,” defined the word for the benefit of its readers,
and for generations of etymologists yet to come:

“Skadaddle” –

.
. . .For the benefit of future
etymologists, who may have a dictionary to make out when the English language
shall have adopted “skedaddle” into familiar use by the side of ‘employee” and
“telegram,” we here define the new term.

It
is at least an error of judgment, if not an intentional unkindness, to foist
“skedaddle” on our Teutonic soldiers.The word is used throughout the whole army of the Potomac, and means “to
cut stick,” “vamoose the ranche,” “slope,” “cut your lucky,” or “clear
out.”So that Fort Skadaddle is
equivalent to “Fort Runaway.” – N. Y. Post.

The Evening Star
(Washington DC), October 22, 1861, page 2.

The article appears to have correctly rejected the possible
German origin.The rumor that the word
came from Germany may have stemmed from the fact that a number of German
immigrants served among the units that marched on “Fort Skedaddle.”The Second and Fifth Michigan Regiments took
the hill, and the “gallant 37th” from New York held the hill.[v]An English journalist, who visited “Fort
Skedaddle” a couple days after the Union advance, wrote that it seemed that,
“more than three-fourths of the army of the Potomac is composed of Irish and
German mercenaries; I only met with one American soldier for the two days I
stayed in that quarter.”If the word
were widespread among the troops, “German” soldiers, “Irish” soldiers, and all
other American soldiers were likely using the word too.

Skedaddle Skedaddles

The word, “skedaddle,” quickly skedaddled across the country,
and across the pond.Within months, the
word routinely appeared in newspapers from Vermont to Hawaii, and from
Washington State to Texas and Tennessee, and all places in between.In December, 1862, a stage play entitled, Ivanhoe: In Accordance with the Spirit of
the Times (by the author of Ill-treated
Trovatore and Puss in a New Pair of
Boots) featured a musical number entitled, “The Skedaddle Polka,” and included
the word, “skedaddle,” spoken several times in dialogue.[vi]In early 1863, a British humor magazine
featured the following nursery rhyme:

Skedaddle
– skedaddle – skedaddle!

Put
forth your best foot with a straddle;

Look
round, far and near,

Till
you see the coast clear,

Then,
deserting so sly,

Bolt,
scamper, and fly,

Skedaddle
– skedaddle – skedaddle!

Skedaddle
– skedaddle – skedaddle!

Climb
stealthily into the saddle;

Stick
spurs in your steed,

And
be off at full speed,

From
the red field of strife,

Be
off for your life,

Skedaddle
– skedaddle – skedaddle!

Fun, Volume 3, January
24, 1863, page 181.

The Origins of Skedaddle

Interest in the new word soon spurred inquiries into its
origins.Although the published
discussions did not make any particular connection to Kansas, at least one writer
placed the immediate origins in the West, generally:

Skeedaddle.
– This is a western phrase, lately common in the newspapers, signifying to run
away or retreat.What is the derivation
and origin of the word?

Many early guesses suggested a relationship to a Greek
wordor root, variously given as skeda,[vii]skedao,[viii]skedasis,[ix]
or skedannumi,[x]
meaning to disperse, scatter, or to retire tumultuously.A “Harvard professor” was thought to be the
culprit.

A certain, Lord Hill (a distant cousin of Robert Sale-Hill,
whose poem, The History and Origin of “the
Dude,” introduced the world to the word, “dude” in 1883) defended Britain's honor. The word was not an American invention, he argued, it was Scottish:

Skedaddle.
– The following Note, sent by Lord Hill to The
Times (Monday, Oct. 13, 1862, p. 10, col. 3), shows that one Americanism at
least is of British origin: -

“To
the Editor of ‘TheTimes.’

“Sir,
- Your correspondent, in an article upon the American war, tells the public
that the war has brought to the surface, and added to the American vocabulary,
a new word, viz. ‘skedaddle.’

“My
object in writing this note is to correct the above error.Skedaddle is a word commonly used in
Dumfriesshire [(Scotland)], my native home.To skedaddle, means to spill in small quantities any liquids.For instance, a person carrying two pails of
milk, - jabbling and spilling the milk right and left – would be skedaddling
the milk.An interested observer would
cry at once; ‘You blind buzzard, don’t you see you are skedaddling all that
milk!’ The same word applies to coals, potatoes, or apples, and other
substances falling from a cart in travelling from one place to another.But skedaddle does not apply to bodies of men
scattered, under any circumstances, either in peace or in war.The Americans totally misapply the word.

“It
is not their invention, of that you may rest perfectly assured.Yours faithfully,

“Dartford,
Oct. 9.Hill.”

Notes and Queries,
3rd Series, Volume 2, October 25, 1862, page 326.

Another writer believed it to be Irish:

Now
although the Greek [skedao] is undoubtedly the root of the English scatter and
scud, the German scheiden, and the Scandinavian equivalents, yet skedaddle,
instead of being derived from any of them, is probably Irish.

The
Irish sgdad, spelled with a g, as
that language has no k, doubtless
gave the Greeks their [skedao], and the compound Irish word sgedad ol, all
scattered or utterly routed, is the very word skedaddle itself.

An
old version of the Irish New Testament contains this passage: “For it is
written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be sgedad
ol.” The word is probably used in our army by an Irishman, and being looked
upon as particularly felicitous, was at once adopted.”

The Historical
Magazine, and Notes and Queries, Volume 6, Number 12, December 1862, page
381.

Conclusion

The word, “skedaddle,” existed in Kansas before the Civil
War, but probably not much before; as there are no known attestations of the
word before 1861.The word came to be
used among Union soldiers before October 1861, as a mocking description of
perceived Southern cowardice. As applied to Munson’s Hill, however, “Fort Skedaddle,” may have been an unintentionally ironic misnomer.At least one contemporary observer believed
that the word had been used in Dumfriesshire, Scotland before it emerged in
Kansas.

If “skedaddle” was Scottish, it might also have been
Irish.If it was Irish or Scottish, it
might also have been Scandinavian.If it
was Scandinavian, it might also have been Germanic.If the corresponding Germanic forms had been
influenced by Greek, it might derive, ultimately, from Greek.But wherever it came from, it took one “Bloody
Kansas” conflict and one Civil War to make the word stick, with its modern
meaning.

Forty years later, “skedaddle,” inspired “skidoo,” “skidoodle wagon,”
and “twenty-three; skidoo!”But that’s a
story for a different day.

Now Skedaddle!

------------------------
UPDATE: March 4, 2016

The word "skedaddle" appeared in an article published in at least two newspapers in Pennsylvania, the earliest in December 1859. The word is used in a story about an ugly Hoosier's travels in Missouri, across the border from Kansas. The story relates a humorous anecdote about a man who is wrongly believed to be a survivor of a recent steamboat boiler explosion:

A Hoosier, an awful ugly man, relating his travels in Missouri, said that he had arrived at Chickenville in the forenoon, and just a few days before there had been a boat [(the Franklin)] busted, and a heap of people scalded and killed, one way and other.

. . . "Where did you find yourself after the 'splosion?"

"In a flat boat," sez I.

"How far from the Franklin? sez he.

"Why," sez I, "I never seed her, but as nigh as I can guess, about three hundred and seventy-five miles."

"You'd oughter seen that gang skedaddle."

The Pittsburgh Post (Pennsylvania), December 21, 1859, page
3; The Wellsboro Gazette (Wellsboro, Pennsylvania), January 12, 1860, page 1. (An article published in 1942 ("The Hoosier as an American Folk-Type", Richard Lyle Power, Indiana Magazine of History, Volume 38, Issue 2, pages 107-122 (which is available online here)) cites this story as coming from Yankee Notions, Volume 6, page 272 (1857). My sources had Volumes 5 and 7 of Yankee Notions, but not Volume 6, so I was unable to verify whether the word is there. But if it is, then "skedaddle" would have been known in Missouri as early as 1857. And, since Yankee Notions had a national distribution, the word could have been known everywhere; although the fact that all of the early citations are from Kansas or Missouri suggests that the word was a regionalism.